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O'Keefe backs Henriques for Indian tour

Joe Barton

Four wickets in the space of 24 hours combined with more than 1600km travelled have left NSW captain Stephen O'Keefe in no doubt that allrounder Moises Henriques is ready for Test cricket.

Henriques claimed just one wicket as the Blues restricted Western Australia to 9-232 at stumps on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash at Blacktown on Thursday.

The 25-year-old faced a battle just to get to the western Sydney venue after playing a vital role for Australia in the one-day win over Sri Lanka in Hobart on Wednesday night with figures of 3-32.

Henriques' travel schedule started with a 7.30am flight out of the Tasmanian capital and ended nearly five hours later.

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But it was his nine-over spell for the Blues after backing up from the previous night's heroics that impressed his state skipper enough to suggest another plane ticket - one to India - wasn't out of the question.

With Shane Watson deciding his body is unable to withstand the rigours of bowling, the Test allrounder spot has suddenly opened up, with Henriques and offspinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell looming as the main contenders to fill it for next month's four-Test series in India.

"There's no doubt I believe Moises has got talent as an allrounder (at that level)," O'Keefe said.

"I think his batting's good enough and I think his bowling's good enough.

"He showed in the one-dayer for Australia, that match-winning three-for, I think that's just a small glimpse at the potential he's got to win games.

"When he's on, he's as good a batter as anyone else and he's more than handy with the ball."

In fact, the most impressive bowler of the day was O'Keefe himself, another potential bolter for the Indian tour as the Shield's leading spinner with 12 wickets.

Both have just three more days to push their cases for inclusion in Australia's trip to India, and they'll have to do it against a Warriors outfit desperately fighting to get off the bottom of the Shield ladder.

O'Keefe claimed 3-52 on a slow wicket that offered a little for the spinners, including the scalps of openers Liam Davis (39) and Marcus Harris (25) as well as top-scorer John Rogers (45).

But it was his decision to send the Warriors in to bat which had the skipper most disappointed after a mostly productive day for the Blues.

"I don't think we assessed (the conditions) as best we would've liked on that wicket," he said.

"We thought it would've had a bit more with the new ball, however it's turned out to be pretty slow and offers a little bit for the spinners."

One man no longer pushing for Test selection is the recently retired Michael Hussey, who ended his international career in front of a full SCG earlier this month.

It was a far different sight at Blacktown, where the 37-year-old scored 29 before falling victim to Chris Tremain (1-35) during a period in which the visitors lost 3-37 after lunch to slump to 5-128.